COP27... UK cannot afford climate reparations, Johnson says

The UK cannot pay climate reparations to poorer countries despite its historical pollution as a leader of the Industrial Revolution, Boris Johnson has said.

The former prime minister's comments came during an appearance at the Cop27 summit in Egypt, where the issue of reparations is set to dominate negotiations.

Poorer countries say the loss and damage they are already experiencing as a result of climate change should be paid for by rich nations who have historically polluted the most.

But Mr Johnson said simple payouts would not be possible, despite the UK bearing some blame for climate change.

The United Kingdom was one of, if not the first, industrialised nation. The first wisps of carbon came out of the factories and mills and foundries of the West Midlands 200 years ago. We started it all," he told a New York Times event in Sharm el-Sheikh.

There's no question that per capita the people of the UK have put a lot of carbon into the atmosphere. What we cannot do is make up for that in some kind of reparations. We simply do not have the financial resources. No country could. What we can do is help with the technology that can help to fix the problem.